Twelve Olympians
In the ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.Hansen, p. 250; Burkert, pp. 125 ff.; Dowden, p. 43; Chadwick, p. 85; Müller, pp. 419 ff.; Pache, pp. 308 ff.; Thomas, p. 12; Shapiro, p. 362; Long, pp. 140–141; Morford, p. 113; Hard p. 80. They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus. Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god, and was the brother of the first generation of Olympians (Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia), his realm was the underworld, far from Olympus, and thus was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods. Olympians The Olympians were a race of deities, primarily consisting of a third and fourth generation of immortal beings, worshipped as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon and so named because of their residency atop Mount Olympus. They gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of gods, in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling gods, the Titans. They were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia, along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite,According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100. However, According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100. Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus. Although Hades was a major deity in the Greek pantheon, and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld, and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians.Hansen, p. 250; Morford, p. 113; Hard p. 80. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic godsChadwick, p. 85. including Hades, by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros (βόθρος, "pit") or megaron (μέγαρον, "sunken chamber")Dillon, p. 114. rather than at an altar. The canonical number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be considered to be Olympians.Ogden, pp. 2–3; Dowden, p. 43; Hansen, p. 250; Burkert, p. 125. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe.Herodotus, 2.43–44. According to Hesiod, the children of Styx: Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Cratos (Power), and Bia (Force), "have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus."Hesiod, Theogony 386–388. Some others who might be considered Olympians, include the Muses, the Graces, Iris, Dione, Eileithyia, the Horae, and Ganymede.Just who might be called an Olympian is not entirely clear. For example Dowden, p. 43, describes Heracles, Hebe, the Muses, and the Graces as Olympians, and on p. 45, lists Iris, Dione, and Eileithyia among the Homeric Olympians, while Hansen, p. 250, describes Heracles, Hebe, the Horae, and Ganymede as notable residents of Olympus, but says they "are not ordinarily classified as Olympians". Twelve gods Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other various cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece. The earliest evidence of Greek religious practice involving twelve gods (Greek: δωδεκάθεον, dodekatheon, from δώδεκα dōdeka, "twelve" and θεοί theoi, "gods") comes no earlier than the late sixth century BC.Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 43;. According to Thucydides, an altar of the twelve gods was established in the agora of Athens by the archon Pisistratus (son of Hippias, and the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus), in c. 522 BC.Rutherford, pp. 43–44; Thucydides, 6.54.6-7. The altar became the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and a place of supplication and refuge. Olympia apparently also had an early tradition of twelve gods.Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 58–62 (T 13), 154–157. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (c. 500 BC) has the god Hermes divide a sacrifice of two cows he has stolen from Apollo, into twelve parts, on the banks of the river Alpheius (presumably at Olympia): :"Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, and divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly honorable."Long, pp. 61–62 (T 13 G), 156–157; Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 128–129. Pindar, in an ode written to be sung at Olympia c. 480 BC, has Heracles sacrificing, alongside the Alpheius, to the "twelve ruling gods":Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 59–60 (T 13 C), 154–155. :"He Heracles enclosed the Altis all around and marked it off in the open, and he made the encircling area a resting-place for feasting, honoring the stream of the Alpheus along with the twelve ruling gods."Pindar, Olympian 10.49. Another of Pindar's Olympian odes mentions "six double altars".Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 58 (T 13 A), 154; Pindar, Olympian 5.5. Herodorus of Heraclea (c. 400 BC) also has Heracles founding a shrine at Olympia, with six pairs of gods, each pair sharing a single altar.Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 47; Long, pp. 58–59 (T 13 B), 154; FGrH 31 F34a-b. Many other places had cults of the twelve gods, including Delos, Chalcedon, Magnesia on the Maeander, and Leontinoi in Sicily.Rutherford, p. 45; Delos: Long, pp. 11, 87–90 (T 26), 182; Chalcedon: Long, pp. 56–57 (T 11 D), 217–218; Magnesia on the Maeander: Long, pp. 53–54 (T 7), 221–223; Leontinoi: Long, pp. 95–96 (T 32), p. 157. As with the twelve Olympians, although the number of gods was fixed at twelve, the membership varied.Long, pp. 360–361, lists 54 Greek (and Roman) gods, including the thirteen Olympians mentioned above, who have been identified as members of one or more cultic groupings of twelve gods. While the majority of the gods included as members of these other cults of twelve gods were Olympians, non-Olympians were also sometimes included. For example, Herodorus of Heraclea identified the six pairs of gods at Olympia as: Zeus and Poseidon, Hera and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Graces and Dionysus, Artemis and Alpheus, and Cronus and Rhea.Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 47; Hard, p. 81; Long, pp. 58–59 (T 13 B), 141, 154; FGrH 31 F34a-b. Thus while this list includes the eight Olympians: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus, it also contains three clear non-Olympians: the Titan parents of the first generation of Olympians, Cronus and Rhea, and the river god Alpheius, with the status of the Graces (here apparently counted as one god) being unclear. Plato connected "twelve gods" with the twelve months, and implies that he considered Pluto one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him and the spirits of the dead.Rutherford, pp. 45–46; Plato, The Laws 828 b-d The Roman poet Ennius gives the Roman equivalents (the Dii Consentes) as six male-female complements, preserving the place of Vesta (Greek Hestia), who played a crucial role in Roman religion as a state goddess maintained by the Vestals. List The twelve gods and goddesses most commonly considered to be known as the Twelve Olympians are listed below. Genealogy Gallery Videos Gallery of the Gods|Olympian gods of Greek mythology See also *Greek mythology *Mount Olympus Related articles * Æsir External links Twelve Olympians Notes A ^ Romans also associated Phoebus with Helios and the sun itself, however, they also used the Greek name Apollon in a Latinized form Apollo. B ^ According to an alternate version of her birth, Aphrodite was born of Uranus, Zeus' grandfather, after Cronus threw his castrated genitals into the sea. This supports the etymology of her name, "foam-born". As such, Aphrodite would belong to the same generation as Cronus, Zeus' father, and would be Zeus' aunt. See the birth of Aphrodite References Category:Divine Councils Category:Graeco-Egyptian mythology Category:Greek mythology Category:Olympian gods